Costa Rica
| Author | George Kurian |
| Pages | 313-317 |
Page 313
Official country name: Republic of Costa Rica
Capital: San José
Geographic description: A Central American country bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean
Population: 4,016,173 (est. 2005)
Costa Rica is one of the few nations in the world that has renounced a national army. Its security forces are limited to the Town and Village Police Force and to a small well-trained constabulary known as the Guardia Civil (Civil Guard), an organization made up entirely of volunteers. Its elimination of the military establishment and the small size of its police force are explained by a number of factors: the low incidence of crime, the law-abiding nature of the Costa Rican people, a court system respected for its integrity and efficiency, and freedom from political violence, turbulence, and anarchy.
The structure of the police force is determined by the constitution, which directs the president to maintain "a necessary public force." The president of the republic is designated the commander in chief of all public forces. Law enforcement responsibilities are dispersed among many agencies as a deterrent against possible misuse. The largest of these agencies is the Ministry of Public Security. There is no top-level supervisory staff, and the operational coordination among the various law enforcement agencies is left to the local commanders. Four separate ministries are involved with various aspects of public order and security, each with its functional areas. These are the Presidency (Special Intervention and Police Reserve), Ministry of Public Security (Civil Guard, Rural Guard, Border Police, Drug Control Police, and Immigration and Alien Affairs Police), Ministry of Justice (Correctional Police), and Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (Transport Police).
The Civil Guard, which is the senior element of the police forces, has a Presidential Guard, a largely ceremonial unit. It also operates a small air and maritime force, and it may be transformed in the case of a national emergency or external threat into the nucleus of a national army. The Civil Guard performs standard law-enforcement functions: prevention and detection of crime, patrolling streets and highways, and control of traffic. The Civil Guard is under the control of the Ministry of Public Security through its director general.
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The minister is concerned primarily with policy and the director general with day-to-day operations. Besides the direct supervision of the Civil Guard, the director general has a number of staff and operational responsibilities, such as plans, operations, and intelligence. In the Operations Section he directs the detective force, traffic force, transport maintenance, communications, and the bands. The minister has a principal assistant, designated an administrative supervisor, whose responsibilities include personnel, supply, budgets, medical services, and immigration control. Two other ministers have jurisdiction over certain Civil Guard activities. The minister of government is in charge of budgetary allocations for supplies and equipment. The minister of the presidency has jurisdiction over the National Police School, which recruits and trains police officers at all levels.
The Civil Guard is responsible for law enforcement in the national capital and six provincial capitals. It is organized along military lines, using military titles and terminology and its equipment is designed primarily for tactical military rather than civil police action. Most of its equipment is of U.S. origin and many of its officers are trained in the United States.
The grade structure for both officers and noncommissioned officers parallels that of the U.S. Army but offers no grade higher than colonel, which is held by the director. His assistant holds the rank of lieutenant colonel. Officers in charge of...
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